Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, in silence

On entering the world of Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai we are provided with a sensorial experience – we find our fingers twitching to touch, our nostrils open to smell, our ears pricked to listen, and rub our eyes to see clearer. Black thorns encased in ice; medical gynecological instruments studded with sharp fake diamonds encased in glass boxes; or the ghostly blackened erasure of anonymous illegal Vietnamese migrants photographed in a rickety boat in Cambodia – in Mai’s work the human body is the central point of reference, and her desired language to interpret her reality consists in triggering its senses. - Zoe Butt This catalogue is published on the occasion of the exhibition Another World by Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, International Studio Programme, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, March 4 to April 27, 2016. It appears in englisch and vietnamese.